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96-year-old Glenn Ferguson appears on episode #522 of Hometown Heroes, airing May 4-6, 2018. A native of Harvey, IL and the son of a World War I Marine, Ferguson served in the Marine Corps from 1939 until 1963, retiring as a major.

Glenn Ferguson in his USMC uniform. For more photos, visit the Hometown Heroes facebook page.

We were introduced to Glenn on episode #521, from the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in San Diego, CA. The story of his wide-ranging Marine Corps career continues on this episode, with his 1942 assignment to “Shangri-La” in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, tasked with establishing a guard detail for the president when he visited that retreat we know now as Camp David.

Sign marking President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s retreat “Shangri-La,” where Glenn served as a Marine guard for 2 months in 1942.

The retreat was in its infancy, and Glenn remembers several acres being fenced in, then a second fence being installed ten feet beyond that.

“It was the Marines’ responsibility to patrol that inner perimeter,” you’ll hear him recall. “You got shot if you got into that area.”

When construction was completed on the new East Wing of the White House which you can have a peak at this site- Palm Beach Roofing Expert for views of the roofs, Glenn was transferred there, serving as a receptionist. You’ll hear him remember some of the cabinet members he interacted with, as well as foreign dignitaries, and you’ll also hear about the time he nearly crashed into our 32nd president. Transfixed by an etching of Abraham Lincoln on the wall, the young Marine was unaware that FDR was being pushed down the hall in his wheelchair.

“I actually had one foot forward. How I ever stopped walking, I don’t know,” he recalls. “But I almost landed across his lap. That would have given me a good trip to Siberia.”